Why Are You Fighting?

If you want peace, prepare for war? Nay. If you want
peace, understand war.
Bal Bhagwan Ji

What you need is peace. If you come to me and ask me political questions, I will say, first of all let me preach the gospel of peace and then I will tell you about politics. Because we need peace first. There is too much politics in the world, there are too many politicians, too many political minds. First is peace. We need peace. Peace is important.

Guru Puja festival in Montrose, Colorado on July 25th, 1972.

And today, first of all we must see what is our religion, first of all, let me take a very, very, maybe a popular example; an example that is going on right now, of Ireland. Actually this fight began, and, I was told that the source, the beginning of the fight, was a very domestic reason, and then this war grew up, and now it has come to a point where it is a religious war. Hitler wanted to conquer the world. He came to all these places. Apparently his war became a religious war. Akbar and all the Mogul kings came into India, walked into India; their aim was to conquer India, and it became a religious war; again it became a religious war. Now, what I want to ask you today, what is religion? If religion is the creator of war, then we don't need these religions! We need that religion that is the real religion and real religion is realization of God.

Realize that God is religion. There is no other religion. And God is one, though many ways of worshipping Him have been devised. But believe me, all different ways of finding God are useless. If God is one, the way must also be one, and the way must also be God.

I have found both in our society and in Western countries that there are many segregations and different religions, yet peace doesn't exist.

Today we have many scientific achievements, but what does this mean? Of course, scientific achievement is fantastic! They have been doing fantastic things in this world, but some of the achievements have brought us to the point where it has become practically impossible for us to sleep the whole night. Our security precautions have been proven to be so dangerous that now we ourselves are caught in the net.

So this thing is going on. One side makes a new weapon, then the other side makes a defense for it. It is all based on fear, and this is happening all over the world. One man has predicted that there will be a time when people take out their own bones and fight with them. No bullets, only bones. This is the point civilization has reached today.

America is technically advanced, sending Apollo to the moon; but is America satisfied? Do you think America is satisfied? Is President Nixon satisfied in spite of doing all that? And if he is satisfied, then why is he fighting in Vietnam? He should stop this war if he is satisfied, but he is not satisfied at all in spite of it.

Alexander thought, "I will invade the whole world." He conquered one kingdom after another. He wasn't just playing with toys; they weren't just small things he was playing with. He was invading kingdoms, big kingdoms. He even invaded India too. But did he get peace from all these conquests? No, he didn't. In the end he said, "Bury me with my palms facing upwards to show that I who conquered everything left the world with nothing." He always wanted countries to conquer, just like a man today wants another car or a bigger house.

… People give more value to their personal belongings and to their personal ideas than to ideas about God, and this makes them more frustrated; it puts them in greater darkness.

Man today thinks he is the bravest thing. Why? Only because of his body. He has two hands, he can check the world; he has got a brain, he can invent anything. But after this body goes away, nothing. When he has the body, he fights for his country, fights, fights, fights. Then he dies; he does not fight at that time. So with this body God has given us the opportunity. This is God's gift, this is why it is so beautiful, so perfect. God has given us this body. We must utilize it in the proper way.

People ask me, "How can there be a kingdom of peace on this earth?" Because they have only seen the way governments work, and governments only know one thing and that is to take a gun, put it against the head, and say, "Do this or else next moment you will be shot," and if they don't do it, they are shot dead; they are finished. They use a kind of force to make people do something. And that's the problem.

You can take the horse to water but you cannot make him drink. You can put him on a truck and drive him to that river but you can't make him drink. So that's it. You can make a man change the direction of his body but you can't change the direction of his ideas. If his ideas are pure then he thinks purely and lives purely and for him there is the kingdom of peace on this earth. But this is only possible if there is a Master who can give this Knowledge which can make us pure and put us on the path of purity. And this is what is happening. It is very easy to have peace in the world and the kingdom is coming. This Knowledge is so much that I can't actually describe it in words. It is a matter of practical experience.

If you want real satisfaction it is the mind that has to be conquered; it is the mind that has to be satisfied. And the means to do this is by using a special Knowledge, a special way, a special system, and this is the system that has been described by all the saints.

17th of September, 1971, at Boulder, Colorado
Remember Jesus prophesied that there will be famine and thunders before the Kingdom of Heaven comes, but remember at the same time that God is very merciful. He is complete mercy. And probably, if He has mercy on you the world won't explode, and I am working on that. I am increasing spiritual Knowledge like anything to stop the bombs destroying the whole world and I need your cooperation. If you don't cooperate with me, okay, then let the bombs explode. They won't wait for me, but if you want real peace, cooperate with me, and really, I will bring it along very fast, because God is merciful, all merciful.

No politician has ever brought peace to his country. Even now many wars are going on in the name of peace. Yet if all politicians worked in harmony and cooperation with the great Spiritual Master and with the Truth, then world peace would be obtained in one millionth of a second. A second, not a minute. I issue this challenge! I am not a political leader and have no right to talk about or criticize politicians. True Spiritual Knowledge is my subject and this is the highest Knowledge. From this Satguru obtains His authority. Once you know the Name there is nothing left to know.

Guru Puja festival in Montrose, Colorado on July 25th, 1972.
If there is a father - suppose I am a father, and there is a fire burning here, and my child is crawling towards the same fire, right? And he is very near to the fire and almost he is in the fire, and I am still watching him, am I a father? I have got no right to say of myself I am a father, because if I am a father, I have got many responsibilities on myself, and one of these responsibilities is to protect my child. Don't you think we have entered this fire where it is getting out of our control? A bullet comes and shoots you. No one cares for human life. Haven't we entered this fire? It's a very, very, very bad fire we have entered. And God can still watch do you think? That the human race will be destroyed and God will still watch? He is the Father? If He is going to watch, and the world is being destroyed, He is not a father. He may be something else, but He is not a father. But no, God has manifested Himself, because if He manifested Himself after one year, it would be too late.

Question: If you were in India during the Indo-Pakistan war, then why didn't you end it?

Guru Maharaj Ji: If I had been preaching to Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Mr. Bhutto then it would have been alright. But I was not. I was preaching to people who wanted to hear me, who wanted to receive the message of peace.

Now therefore, 0 kings, be wise; be warned 0 rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling kiss his feet, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2, 10-12